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In this paper we consider which families of finite simple groups $G$have the property that for each $\mathrm{ϵ<\#comment/>}>0$there exists $N>0$such that, if $|G|\ge <\#comment/>N$and $S,T$are normal subsets of $G$with at least $\mathrm{ϵ<\#comment/>}|G|$elements each, then every non-trivial element of $G$is the product of an element of $S$and an element of $T$. We show that this holds in a strong and effective sense for finite simple groups of Lie type of bounded rank, while it does not hold for alternating groups or groups of the form ${\mathrm{P}\mathrm{S}\mathrm{L}}_n\left(q\right)$where $q$is fixed and $n\to <\#comment/>\mathrm{\infty <\#comment/>}$. However, in the case $S=T$and $G$alternating this holds with an explicit bound on $N$in terms of $\mathrm{ϵ<\#comment/>}$. Related problems and applications are also discussed. In particular we show that, if $w_1,w_2$are non-trivial words, $G$is a finite simple group of Lie type of bounded rank, and for $g\in <\#comment/>G$, $P_{w_1\left(G\right),w_2\left(G\right)}\left(g\right)$denotes the probability that $g_1{g}_2=g$where $g_i\in <\#comment/>w_i\left(G\right)$are chosen uniformly and independently, then, as $|G|\to <\#comment/>\mathrm{\infty <\#comment/>}$, the distribution $P_{w_1\left(G\right),w_2\left(G\right)}$tends to the uniform distribution on $G$with respect to the $L^{\mathrm{\infty <\#comment/>}}$norm. 

Abstract The deep theory of approximate subgroups establishes three-step product growth for subsets of finite simple groups $$G$$ of Lie type of bounded rank. In this paper, we obtain two-step growth results for representations of such groups $$G$$ (including those of unbounded rank), where products of subsets are replaced by tensor products of representations. Let $$G$$ be a finite simple group of Lie type and $$\chi $$ a character of $$G$$. Let $$|\chi |$$ denote the sum of the squares of the degrees of all (distinct) irreducible characters of $$G$$ that are constituents of $$\chi $$. We show that for all $$\delta>0$$, there exists $$\epsilon>0$$, independent of $$G$$, such that if $$\chi $$ is an irreducible character of $$G$$ satisfying $$|\chi | \le |G|^{1-\delta }$$, then $$|\chi ^2| \ge |\chi |^{1+\epsilon }$$. We also obtain results for reducible characters and establish faster growth in the case where $$|\chi | \le |G|^{\delta }$$. In another direction, we explore covering phenomena, namely situations where every irreducible character of $$G$$ occurs as a constituent of certain products of characters. For example, we prove that if $$|\chi _1| \cdots |\chi _m|$$ is a high enough power of $|G|$, then every irreducible character of $$G$$ appears in $$\chi _1\cdots \chi _m$$. Finally, we obtain growth results for compact semisimple Lie groups. 

We define the notion of an almost polynomial identity of an associative algebra R R , and show that its existence implies the existence of an actual polynomial identity of R R . A similar result is also obtained for Lie algebras and Jordan algebras. We also prove related quantitative results for simple and semisimple algebras. 

Let [Formula: see text] be a residually finite dimensional algebra (not necessarily associative) over a field [Formula: see text]. Suppose first that [Formula: see text] is algebraically closed. We show that if [Formula: see text] satisfies a homogeneous almost identity [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] has an ideal of finite codimension satisfying the identity [Formula: see text]. Using well known results of Zelmanov, we conclude that, if a residually finite dimensional Lie algebra [Formula: see text] over [Formula: see text] is almost [Formula: see text]-Engel, then [Formula: see text] has a nilpotent (respectively, locally nilpotent) ideal of finite codimension if char [Formula: see text] (respectively, char [Formula: see text]). Next, suppose that [Formula: see text] is finite (so [Formula: see text] is residually finite). We prove that, if [Formula: see text] satisfies a homogeneous probabilistic identity [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] is a coset identity of [Formula: see text]. Moreover, if [Formula: see text] is multilinear, then [Formula: see text] is an identity of some finite index ideal of [Formula: see text]. Along the way we show that if [Formula: see text] has degree [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] is a finite [Formula: see text]-algebra such that the probability that [Formula: see text] (where [Formula: see text] are randomly chosen) is at least [Formula: see text], then [Formula: see text] is an identity of [Formula: see text]. This solves a ring-theoretic analogue of a (still open) group-theoretic problem posed by Dixon, 

Abstract We prove that any element in a sufficiently large transitive finite simple permutation group is a product of two derangements.